Spring is almost here! Persephone returning from Hades, squints her eyes, offers a shy smile and asks for a drink: “Anything without pomegranate.” Apropos of nothing, here are some boozy topics (that were) on my mind in the last days of winter. Edited to reflect the reality of the current calendar.
Booze South of Burnside: The Reckoning
Here’s something interesting: all of the Liquor Licenses south of Burnside are up for renewal on July 1st 2009.
Word just reached me from the Office of Neighborhood Involvement that they are currently seeking folks who’d like to comment on problem liquor spots. The idea is that the City of Portland can make licensing recommendations to the OLCC, and the process is much easier if they are informed by folks living next to these establishments. Informing: the job of an informant, known is some circles as a snitch, or stool pigeon.
Okay, maybe that’s harsh. I just hope that the City actually does some work to follow up on these public comments. I can understand that if a majority of people living within a one block radius of a bar complain, there might be a problem with the establishment. But I also know there are plenty of grumpy NIMBY types in Portland who’d rather not see anyone have a good time.
At any rate, whether NIMBY neighbor or not, you can contact the Office of Neighborhood Involvement regarding your favorite neighborhood bar to hate by May 11th. E-mail Theresa Marchetti with your venom.
“Mad Dog” and Hindsight Are 20/20
When I was just a twenty-something pup, I spent a terrible summer trying to drink my way through a catastrophe, with the help of multiple bottles of MD 20/20. I ought not to imbue those days with any kind of romance, but they were integral to my development as a human being, and as such, are tinted by the weird hues of destruction, pain and transformation. I remember one evening in particular that found me in a rail yard in Ashland, OR., watching a freak summer Aurora Borealis spread its white ribbons over Grizzly Peak, barely able to stand, talking to long dead heroes, and finally puking my guts out after throwing my empty bottle of Mad Dog at someone’s quiet, early morning home.
That phase of my life was over fairly quickly and the taste of mad Dog faded from my memory. But recently the subject of MD 20/20 came up in conversation (with folks from the Mercury art department, natch). I was surprised to learn that MD 20/20 was still being sold. Not only that, but it was being sold close to my home.
So the other evening, after a few drinks at the Victory, I wandered in to the market across the street from the Egyptian Club on Division and bought a bottle of orange Mad Dog to enjoy at my leisure.
I forgot how much it tasted and smelled like vomit.
Not able to drink it straight, and not able to throw it out, I began wondering what I should do with it. The answer was simple: use it in a cocktail. Because my recipe is still under development (it has an absinthe rinse and orange bitters so far) I tried to find a MD 20/20 cocktail recipe for this post. Unfortunately, I could not find a single recipe that I’d be willing to give discerning Blogtownies. Instead, I found the closest thing: this awesome video/commercial/recipe for the Night Train Thunderbird Shake ‘Em Up.
Do you have any MD 20/20 related drink recipes? Post them in the comments section. “Now you get some!”
md 20/20 and soda water
The product in the ad is clearly identified as Thunderbird, not Night Train. And Axl Rose sure as shit didn’t drink any damn Thunderbird.
Elgordo, a full day of factually accurate blog entries would be blogtown’s equivalent of /b/ learning to count to ten. I will buy every poster in the history of this place a drink if it ever happens.
Blogtown Challenge!
A challenger appears! Saturdays and Sundays don’t count, for obvious reasons. Success on Cat Friday yields two drinks apiece. Good luck. (PROTIP: lock up your interns).
Fuck the interns, lock up Matt.
I love this! I’ve always wanted to drink with the boxxy cat!
Who knew that because I was sucking down too much Night Train, and had the audacity (AUDACITY!!!!) to confuse it with the obviously inferior fortified wine product in the advertisement, that I’d get the chance to hike an elbow with my favorite (and I mean that with all sincerity) blog troll?
Maybe it’s some kind of twisted cyber Stockholm Syndrome, but goddammit if I this doesn’t excite me.
In related news: it is in fact Night Train that is also available at the convenience store in question. Not Thunderbird. My bad.
Y’all lose, you buy me a drink. Fair?
p.s. if they still make the electric blue “bling bling” edition of MD, give it a try. the bottle comes with its own gold chain.
I make a drink called America fuck yeah. It’s a combination of red banana, blue rasberry, and soda water. Mix in a pitcher and serve it with ice in the cup. It’s good, cheap and a great summer drink.
The puke taste of MD will be there no matter what you do to it. Just suck it up and drink your orange jubilee and know you’re going to vomit later. Probably after hallucinating and falling down several times.
Despite the “20/20”, you guys know that this stuff is only 12% alcohol, rite? Why not just get a box of franzia, about the same price/alc, but way tastier.
In my younger days my house had a summer drink that was made of half a blender of franzia chillable red, a large scoups of coutry time lemonaid powder, and a bunch of ice. Blended to a slush it was one of the most drinkable summer drinks ever.
I had the Mad Dog 20/20 Peaches and Cream recently. All the girls at the party, including myself, thoroughly enjoyed it.
But otherwise just mix it with cheap champagne. The strawberry andre and watermelon Boones Farm tastes like a Jolly Rancher. I’m sure Mad Dog 20/20 would be pretty similar.